This neat piece of free software allows you to capture all those email addresses stored in your Outlook “nickname” file.

What’s that? Well, if you go to the To: field of a blank email message and type a letter, you will see that Oulook has “remembered” the email addresses of people to whom you’ve sent messages in the past. (Don’t forget that the nice thing about Microsoft is that they already know what you’ll want in the future, even before you know it! LOL).

You may have notified all the people in your Outlook contacts that you are leaving Heller Ehrman, but what about those one-off people or people to whom you’ve sent email but never entered their info into Contacts?

One you run the application, it captures all the nickname file data and allows you to save it out in various formats or copy the data columns.

Many of us may have information such as Internet Explorer Favorites, etc. stored on our computers at Heller Ehrman. Please review the issues and ideas below when backing up this data or storing it offline so that it can be accessed once you leave the S.S. Heller Ehrman.

Also, given the current storms we are navigating, review all data and consider taking copies of items such as reimbursement requests, vacation requests, etc. – any form which may be helpful at a later date if there is a dispute as to whether or not proper payments for expenses have been made.

1. Use a flash drive. Flash drives come in a variety of sizes and can be plugged into the USB drive to act as an extra storaged drive. Use Windows explorer to copy the data to the flash drive. Note: please make sure your Flash drive has been scanned for viruses!

2. Use a free online storage website. Many websites require users to pay a fee, but some are free and some have a limited amount of room for free. Here are a few:

3. Open a gmail account. Gmail offers a large amount of storage for free. Remember, don’t use your Outlook account to email attachments to your gmail account – this will cause undue amounts of network traffic and certain file types may be blocked. Instead, send from gmail to yourself.

If you haven’t done so already, you may want to export your Outlook contacts so that they are available at your new position and/or at home. This information is important for networking and keeping in touch with other soon-to-be ex-Hellerites like yourself.

The instructions below walk you through the process of exporting not only to Outlook’s native format (.pst) but other formats that will allow you to import them more easily to a new system in the weeks and months to come.

Export Contacts to Outlook .PST Format

1. Open Outlook 2003.

2. Select Contacts.

3. On the File menu, select Import and Export. The Import and Export Wizard appears.

4. Select Export to a file and click Next.

5. Select Personal Folder File and click Next.

6. Select the Contacts folder and mark the Include Subfolders checkbox. Click Next.

7. In the Save exported file as: field, use the Browse button to select a location for the exported file (your Desktop is a good location) and then enter a filename.

Note: the CSV format can be opened in Excel as a table and then cut and pasted into a Word table. The CSV format will allow you to import the data into a wide variety of applications. It is strongly recommended that you export to PST as well as CSV formats.

1. Open Outlook 2003.

2. Select Contacts.

3. On the File menu, select Import and Export. The Import and Export Wizard appears.

4. Select Export to a file and click Next.

5. Select Comma Separated Values (Windows) and click Next.

6. Select the Contacts folder. Click Next.

7. In the Save exported file as: field, use the Browse button to select a location for the exported file (your Desktop is a good location) and then enter a filename. Click Next.

Here’s another item or two to add to your to-do list: securing references and proof of employment. Realise that it is not easy to have a firm or company that no longer exists on your resume and it can actually make job hunting a bit more difficult. Here are some things to do over the next few weeks especially if you received a WARN notice:

1. Try to get one or more letters of reference on Heller Ehrman letterhead.

2. Also, get at least one person to agree to be a reference for you in the future.

3. Since you may not know where your references will be in terms of other law firms or companies, you will need to keep in touch with them. Rather than request their home contact info, ask that they sign up on LinkedIn and that they join the Heller Ehrman LLP Alumni group (http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=913787&trk=hb_side_g)

4. Save whatever documentation you have that shows how long you were with Heller Ehrman , your last job title, and your salary. Also, save a copy of your WARN notice and any other official documents related to your lay-off. In addition, save a PDF version of one or more of the news articles related to Heller’s decision to dissolve. The more documentation you have, the easier it is to wipe the skeptical look off that HR person’s face.

Over and out.

Heller Drone
Cruise Director

Remember the words of Rev. Frank Scott (Gene Hackman in The Poseidon Adventure):

". . . sitting on our butts is not going to help us either. Maybe by climbing out of here, we can save ourselves. If you've got any sense, you'll come along with us."

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Send us your information as to job leads, networking, or just plain vent!Go ahead, say it!

- a place to learn about job leads, resume preparation, skill building, training, new opportunities, and how to succeed in a new workplace;

- a place to keep up on the latest news as to how Heller Ehrman management intends to treat its support staff as it winds down its operations - will it be every woman for herself? or will it be "let me hold the door for you and is there anything else I can do for you"?

- a place of refuge.

Note: in no way, shape or form is Heller Highwater sanctioned, supported or even recognized, (but it is very likely monitored) by the management of Heller Erhman, LLP. The opinions represented here and on each and every page of Heller Highwater do not constitute the opinions of Heller Ehrman, LLP or its shareholders or its management. In addition, the comments left by visitors do not reflect the opinions of Heller Highwater.